


you don't fight fair (that's okay, see if i care)

by tamquams



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Laser Tag, M/M, References to Past Child Abuse, Ronan Compliant Language, Ronan POV, no noah i'm sorry :(, pure unadulterated gangsey chaos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-23
Updated: 2020-03-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:22:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23275468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamquams/pseuds/tamquams
Summary: Ronan bared his teeth, hoping it would make Adam laugh. It didn’t — the shorter boy just narrowed his eyes, quirked the corner of his lips, and then slipped into the darkness of the laser tag maze.Ronan was hit by the sudden realization that he had made a terrible mistake.
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Comments: 19
Kudos: 167





	you don't fight fair (that's okay, see if i care)

**Author's Note:**

> i found the first 200 words of this buried deep in my google docs and could not fathom why i had abandoned it. i hope you enjoy.

It was Cheng’s idea. God, wasn’t it always Cheng’s idea? “Let’s play laser tag!” he had shouted, so excited that Gansey couldn’t say no. “We can team up, like, me-Blue-Gansey versus Ronan and Adam!”

“Oh, no,” said Ronan, smiling wickedly. “I want the midget. How about Sargent and I against you three?”

Adam looked positively insulted. “You don’t want me on your team?” he scoffed, crossing his arms. “And why is that?”

For a moment, Ronan considered the consequences of this decision. Then he shrugged. He lived a sort of consequences-be-damned life anyway. “Because you’re too nice. Sargent here is a soldier. Nothing stops her.”

Blue grinned, a certain sharpness to it. “Hell yeah,” she said, handing her blue vest over to Adam. “I hope y’all are ready to get your asses kicked.”

There was little heat in the glare that Adam alternated between Blue and Ronan, but there was something else to it. Spite, maybe. Revenge. Wordlessly, he swapped vests with Blue, strapping it on and then grabbing the gun that went along with it.

“Don’t worry,” Henry snickered to Adam. “We’ll win. I’m kind of an expert at laser tag.”

Ronan watched as Adam rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you are,” Adam said, heading for the entrance. In two large steps, Ronan caught up with him.

“No hard feelings, right, Parrish?” Ronan asked, smirking.

Adam looked up at him, gaze icy and determined. “None at all.” 

Ronan bared his teeth, hoping it would make Adam laugh. It didn’t — the shorter boy just narrowed his eyes, quirked the corner of his lips, and then slipped into the darkness of the laser tag maze.

Ronan was hit by the sudden realization that he had made a terrible mistake.

It was dead silent in the arena, and dark as night. Ronan’s vest glowed bright red as he backed himself against a wall, preparing for war. Had he been given more time to get ready for this, he would’ve striped his face with war paint, perhaps tied a bandana around his forehead, but alas, he had been caught off guard. Today, all he could do was breathe in, hold, breathe out, and then grit his teeth. The countdown playing over the speakers reached its end. _THREE… TWO… ONE…_ It was go time.

Ronan emerged from his sheltered corner just as music began to buzz loudly through the area, making it impossible to hear anyone approaching. _One way or another, I’m gonna getcha, I’m gonna getcha, getcha, getcha, getcha,_ Blondie blared, so overwhelming that Ronan actually paused to wonder if the noise was too much for Adam. 

He was still standing in the middle of a walkway, wondering about Adam, when Gansey found him. Ronan smiled at his friend. “Gansey, man!” he shouted to be heard over the music. “Hey, have you seen—” He was interrupted by Gansey shooting him square in the chest, looking absurdly pleased with himself. The light on Ronan’s vest flashed. 

“Are you kidding me,” Ronan deadpanned. Gansey just grinned, victorious, and then darted away for no discernible reason. A moment later, Blue was at Ronan’s side.

“Lynch,” she hissed, shoving him just slightly too hard to be playful. “Don’t make me regret teaming up with you.” And then she was gone.

Well, then. Ronan shook his head for a second, then moved on through the maze, on high alert for his next opponent. He vowed to himself that he would not be caught off guard again. Gansey got a good shot in, but that was all he would get — _one_ good shot. Still, though, Ronan felt the undeniable urge to check in with Adam and make sure the music wasn’t overwhelming for him. Ronan crept up a narrow flight of carpeted stairs to the arena’s second floor.

The view was much better from up high. Ronan could see a blue glow in the far corner of the first floor, creeping along very slowly toward the middle of the room, and a red glow that must have been Sargent coming up behind it very quickly. Not far from where Ronan had begun the game, another blue glow was standing quite still; was that Adam? Was the noise too much for him? Ronan glanced around for a clue as to that player’s identity, but found nothing. All he noted was that the third blue team member was not visible from his vantage point. He turned and went back down the stairs, trying to remember the path he had taken since the start of the game.

It took Ronan several moments to locate the blue team member he had been stalking, but when he finally arrived at the remote corner of the maze, the person was still there. Ronan was disappointed to note, however, that it was not Adam at all. It was Henry Cheng.

Cheng had been part of their group for several months, and it had taken Ronan some getting used to, but he was finally pretty at ease with the whole situation. In fact, although he would _never_ admit it out loud, he kinda liked the guy. He liked that Cheng was funny, and kind of reckless, and unphased by, well, literally anything. Kind, chatty, and optimistic, he was not necessarily somebody Ronan would have befriended of his own accord, but all things considered, it wasn’t the worst friendship to be coerced into. His feelings toward Henry generally ranged anywhere from exasperated fondness to consuming annoyance.

Today was more of a ‘consuming annoyance’ sort of day.

Something that all of Ronan’s friends (and his parents, and his brothers, and his teachers, and his priest) noted about Ronan was that he rarely learned his lesson after one mistake; rather, he had to repeat it once or twice for it to really sink in. True to character, he forgot everything that had just happened in his encounter with Gansey, and he approached Cheng as a friend, not an opponent. 

“Cheng,” he said loudly, holding his gun uselessly at his side, “I was just wondering if—”

Henry shot him. Three times, even though only the first one counted. He was just thorough like that.

“I fucking hate you,” Ronan grumbled, too quiet to be heard over the music. He ground his teeth. Henry moved to get away before Ronan’s gun turned back on, but Ronan reached out and grabbed his arm, not quite as gently as he could have.

“Laser tag isn’t a contact sport, Lynch,” Henry protested, trying to break free. Ronan just rolled his eyes.

“Have you seen Adam?” he asked.

“What?”

Ronan huffed. “ _Have you seen Adam?_ ”

Henry paused to think. “I’m pretty sure I’m not supposed to give up my team members’ locations to the enemy.”

“Oh, fuck off,” Ronan said, finally letting go. The shorter boy rubbed his arm, but instead of walking away, he just patted Ronan on the shoulder. 

“Is something wrong?” he asked, well aware that the consequences of asking Ronan a personal question could be devastating. 

Ronan’s eyes narrowed. “I’m just — fuck. I’m not looking for him to beat him or whatever, okay? Just wanted to talk to him for a second.” The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop himself. Talking to Cheng was always like that; there was something about him that had you spilling your guts within five minutes, guaranteed. He gave Ronan a sympathetic look.

“Fine,” Henry said after a second, looking around conspiratorially. “Last I saw him, he was headed upstairs. Said something about angles.”

Of course. Fucking nerd. Ronan smiled sharply at Henry. “Thanks, man,” he said, and Henry smiled back, and then Ronan shot him. Three times.

Henry clutched his hand to his chest in a mock show of betrayal. “Rude,” he mouthed before turning and disappearing into the darkness of the maze.

Although Cheng was certainly an easy target, Ronan didn’t follow him; instead, he turned and headed up the stairs once again, moving twice as fast this time. He stopped to glance over the edge of the second floor, counted two blue team players approaching each other across the arena from another red glow, and decided that he and Adam were the only players on the second floor. Good. 

Searching for Adam was more difficult than Ronan had anticipated. He had truly underestimated his boyfriend’s cleverness, he realized hopelessly as he scoured each nook and cranny of the level. He was starting to get worried, actually, wondering if Adam was curled up on the ground with his hands over his ears, breathing too hard and too fast, if there would be teartracks on his boyfriend’s face when he finally tracked him down. The thought devastated Ronan and then infuriated him, and for just a moment, when he blinked, he saw a flash of Adam on his hands and knees on the front steps of his double-wide, blood streaming down the side of his face, Robert Parrish standing over him yelling disgustingly —

Ronan was getting _worried_.

After two songs had passed, he was getting close to just saying ‘fuck it’ and making them stop the game. His heart was beating out of his fucking chest as he rounded the last corner of the second floor, found it empty, and then groaned in frustration. Where the _fuck_ could Parrish possibly _be_?

The sound of a laser gun shooting made Ronan turn so fast he got whiplash. His vest flashed, his gun went dead in his hand, and Adam smiled villainously from about ten feet away.

“Parrish,” Ronan breathed, and before he could come up with anything else to say, Adam had crossed the distance and was upon him, pressing Ronan against the wall hard, kissing him harder. It was all teeth nipping at lips and fingers pressing bruises into hips and hands brushing reverently through sweat-damp hair. Ronan heard himself moan, quiet and needy, as Adam did something particularly interesting with his tongue.

“Adam,” whispered Ronan.

Adam grinned. “Ronan,” he murmured back, rocking his hips slightly. Ronan moaned again, louder this time, but still not loud enough for anyone over two feet away to hear. He pulled on Adam’s hair, not rough but not exactly gentle, either, just to hear the noise it coaxed out of him.

“Where the fuck have you been?” Ronan asked as Adam slid his mouth down to kiss wetly against his jaw. Ronan shuddered; Adam just pulled him closer.

“Been following you,” Adam replied simply, leaning down to bite gently against Ronan’s collarbone. Ronan gasped. “ _Hunting_ you.”

The huskiness of Adam’s voice almost killed Ronan on the spot. “Hunting?” he repeated weakly, leaning his head back against the wall with a _thunk_. 

Adam removed his lips from where they had attached themselves to Ronan’s neck and stood up straight, grinning. He was suddenly more wolf than boy. “Yeah,” he whispered, voice cold and absolutely ruthless. He lifted his gun and shot Ronan directly over the heart.

Ronan groaned, low and indecent, as he watched Adam retreat and turn a corner.

It took Ronan an embarrassing amount of time to collect himself enough to move out of the safety and shelter of the corner they had been in. He was sure he still looked as completely wrecked as he felt, clothing askew and lips bitten red, but he was determined not to let Adam get the last word (or shot). Adam may have been ambitious, competitive, and methodical, but Ronan was feral and chaotic and had absolutely no regard for personal safety. He would say they were evenly matched.

Adam was much easier to find a second time, now that he wasn’t trailing Ronan. He had remained on the higher level, situating himself beside the railing in a way that allowed him to mostly hide in the darkness and sneak shots at Blue without her ever seeing him. It was a genius move, very Adam-like, and something about it tugged at Ronan’s heartstrings rather disgustingly. He shoved his love for his boyfriend to the side and shot him in the back with no hesitation.

Adam was on his feet in less than a second, already scrambling away rather than stop and play some more mind games. Ronan followed the blinking blue glow of his boyfriend’s vest, slightly slower, so the entire chase gave off the appearance of a cliche horror-movie moment.

He followed Adam all the way down to the first level, along one side, and then deep into the middle. Neither boy managed to get another shot in before Adam brought them into the very center of the maze. Suddenly, they emerged into an open square, no shelter for either boy, and Adam turned to face him and raise his gun.

Their stances mirrored one another: they both stood tall, stretched their arms out to aim their laser guns perfectly, all four blue eyes completely unreadable. Neither boy fired. Ronan heard a voice come over the speaker and begin the countdown to the end of the game.

_THIRTY… TWENTY-NINE… TWENTY-EIGHT…_

“That was a low blow back there, Parrish,” Ronan called out. “I was looking for you to check on you.”

_TWENTY-SEVEN… TWENTY-SIX… TWENTY-FIVE…_

“You got what you deserved,” said Adam, deadly calm. “This’ll teach you to team up with me next time.”

_TWENTY-FOUR… TWENTY-THREE… TWENTY-TWO…_

“Nah, all I’ve really learned is that you’re fucking evil.”

 _TWENTY-ONE… TWENTY… NINETEEN…_

Adam laughed humorlessly. “You’re just learning this now? And I thought you knew me.”

_EIGHTEEN… SEVENTEEN… SIXTEEN…_

“Apparently not,” said Ronan in a true drama-queen moment. He punctuated his statement with a smirk.

 _FIFTEEN… FOURTEEN… THIRTEEN…_

A faint blue glow appeared behind Adam suddenly, and Ronan watched as Gansey emerged into the clearing, followed closely by Cheng. They both pointed their guns at Ronan. “Try it, Lynch,” Henry called out, wiggling his eyebrows. “Freaking try it.”

_TWELVE… ELEVEN… TEN…_

Ronan heard footsteps approaching from behind, and he tried not to sigh in relief as Sargent joined him and pointed her gun lethally at Gansey. “Drop your weapon, Parrish, or Pretty Boy gets it.”

“Pretty boy?” said Gansey, Henry, and Adam in unison.

_NINE… EIGHT… SEVEN…_

“You guys don’t have to do this,” Adam said calmly, his gaze not wavering from Ronan. “This is between me and Lynch. Nobody else has to get hurt.”

_SIX… FIVE… FOUR…_

“We’ve got you three to two,” warned Gansey.

Ronan grinned sharply. “I like those odds.”

_THREE… TWO…_

They all fired at once.

“It wasn’t fair,” Ronan whined. “You guys had more people on your team.”

Adam leaned back on his heels, sighing deeply. “Are we still talking about this?” he groaned, staring down at Ronan from where he straddled the taller boy’s thighs. 

“I’m just saying, of course you guys won, there were three of you and only—” Adam interrupted Ronan with a deep, sensual kiss, his hands holding Ronan’s face delicately in place.

“Shut,” Adam whispered against his mouth, “the fuck,” he bit Ronan’s bottom lip, “ _up_.” His hands slid underneath Ronan’s shirt.

Ronan shut the fuck up.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, i hope you liked it! as always, you're more than welcome to come find me on tumblr, i'm @wespers :) p.s. title comes from hit me with your best shot by pat benatar!


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